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Netherlands vs. Belgium

How the Netherlands and Belgium compare on income per person, population, life expectancy, internet use, electricity, unemployment, inflation, carbon emissions, health spending and college enrollment, each next to the world figure and linked to its chart, where you'll find its source, its date and every country's numbers.

The biggest differences

  • The population is 51% larger in the Netherlands (18.1M people) than in Belgium (11.9M).
  • The unemployment rate is 2 percentage points higher in Belgium (5.9%) than in the Netherlands (3.9%).
  • GDP per person is 19% higher in the Netherlands ($67,465) than in Belgium ($56,582).

The two are about the same on life expectancy at birth, the share of people using the internet, the share of people with electricity, and inflation.

Side by side

Figures are from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), for the newest year most countries have reported; many are estimates, and they are revised as new data comes in. GDP per person is in US dollars at each year's exchange rates, not adjusted for differences in prices, and so is health spending. Two figures are called about the same when GDP, population, emissions or health spending differ by less than 5%, life expectancy by less than a year, unemployment or inflation by less than 1 percentage point, or another share by less than 2 percentage points.

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